President Bola Tinubu’s revived push for state police has received unequivocal support from the Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) representing northern governors, and this has altered the momentum of the ongoing debate around reforming security in Nigeria. The governors from the 19 Northern states unequivocally lent their support to the need for state police, and encouraged the National Assembly to hastily enact legislation that grants states their own police commands.
Tinubu said that state police are “inevitable” if Nigeria is to contend with the scope of insecurity that has emerged. He noted that community-driven approaches that reformed policing, like the civilian-Joint Task Forces (JTF) in Northeast, has provided numerous successful lessons worth replicating. Tinubu said, “The federal government is willing to collaborate with lawmakers to craft a policing arrangement that ensures local accountability and prevents political weaponization”.
The endorsement of regional governors by regional stakeholders is being applauded. Afenifere was pleased with the overdue acceptance of state police and the call for hasty passage. The Middle Belt Forum reiterated the notion that decentralized policing belong to the pillars of true federalism, and there were joint notions recently documented that provide that allowing the states to create their own policing mechanism will lead to timely and efficient response to crime while also rebuilding public confidence in police service.
Conversely, the endorsed shifts have received certain criticisms. Some northern elders, and security analysts, have cautioned that state police systems could be politicized or weaponized by governors if protections are not established.
Former Senator Shehu Sani, among others, have demanded clarity around state funding, and some analysts have suggested that state police could become a mere extension of politicized governors political mandate.
No doubt, nevertheless, this conversation includes an ever-growing momentum. The unanimous endorsement of the northern governors means that it is likely to shift from mere reflection to policy and automation, meaning an even more significant shift in Nigeria’s security architecture to date. Whether state police will become the cornerstone of Nigeria’s deterioration of insecurity will become clearer in the next 3-6 months as pressure builds for legislative action.